Welcome to the Consumerist Archives

Thanks for visiting Consumerist.com. As of October 2017, Consumerist is no longer producing new content, but feel free to browse through our archives. Here you can find 12 years worth of articles on everything from how to avoid dodgy scams to writing an effective complaint letter. Check out some of our greatest hits below, explore the categories listed on the left-hand side of the page, or head to CR.org for ratings, reviews, and consumer news.

We write thousands of posts every year at Consumerist, and before we hit “publish,” we tell each of them that they’re our favorite. That’s a lie, though: when we look back, there are always posts that stand out. Whether it’s because of their real-world impact, important insights, important topics, or use of the phrase “Underwear Time,” we each have our favorites out of our work for the year. Each of our writers chose theirs along with some honorable mentions, and explained what made them love that post just a little more than the others.

Mary Beth Quirk

17 Commercial Failures From Brands With Spectacularly Bad Ideas
I’m a sucker for history, both recent and long past, so I enjoyed hunting around for these failed ideas from big brands that are still around today. While there were a few familiar products that have received the lion’s share of ridicule, some lesser known entries surprised the entire staff.

I spent a lot of this year writing about discount stores: nostalgia for disappeared chains, the slow shutdown of Kmart, and what happened when Target sold its pharmacy business to make some money from it.

Kate Cox

The 3 Big Things We’ve Learned About Your Cable Bill
This story was the culmination of a months-long, truly crowdsourced effort. We asked Consumerist readers to send us their cable bills, and dozens responded. As we read them all, we were able to break them down, separating the simple from the misleading and explaining what’s really going on in that mess of fees.

It also led us to hear from more than 3,300 readers who answered our survey about negotiating with their cable companies. The TL;DR? It’s a lot easier to get free stuff than it is to get a lower rate.

Ashlee Kieler

$164 Per Mile: Surprise Ambulance Bills Are A Growing Problem & Difficult To Avoid
This was the final story in our Surprise Medical Bills series, and it was a doozy. You never really think about how much an ambulance ride to the hospital will cost, because, you know, it’s probably an emergency. But it turns out those short rides can be extremely costly. And while you might be able to find out if your doctor or hospital is in-network and covered by insurance, that’s nearly impossible for ambulances. It’s an issue that many of us will encounter someday, whether we’re prepared or not.

So it was a huge, positive change of pace to see a Congress that couldn’t agree on the time of day be so united behind the Consumer Review Fairness/Freedom Act, which makes it illegal for companies everywhere in the U.S. to include gag clauses in their customer contracts.

Working on this particular story was also rewarding, getting to hear from the advocates, attorneys, and lawmakers who have helped push this issue into the spotlight, and to finally put this commonsense protection in place.

The Felon Dentist Who Tried To Erase His Past

A Georgia dentist who had been convicted on theft charges nearly a decade ago, was attempting to scrub the internet of other allegations made by former patients who claimed the doctor deliberately hit them in the face with a dental tool during procedures.